The summer heat may be continuing, but Wellesley Education Foundation (WEF) is looking forward to fall, and holding its 28th Annual Wellesley Spelling Bee — an adult spelling contest — on Thursday, November 2 at 7pm at the Sprague Elementary School gym.

Last year, 56 teams drawn from local businesses, community groups, PTOs, colleges and the Wellesley Public Schools took the stage to show their spelling prowess. Perhaps this is your year to shine? Get your three-person team together and enter by October 19. The cost for entry is $500.

The Bee is a key annual fundraiser for WEF, building the dollars needed to support innovation and enrichment in the Wellesley Public Schools. Donations of any amount are welcome. Sponsorship is a great way to showcase your business or individual support in our local community. You can become a sponsor starting at $125, or sponsor a team at $625.

To register, sponsor or donate, visit the WEF website at www.WellesleyEducationFoundation.org and look for the Spelling Bee under the “Events” tab. Online payment is available through PayPal, or mail a check payable to WEF with “Spelling Bee” noted to: Wellesley Education Foundation, PO Box 812321, Wellesley MA 02482.

The Modifiers annual car show returns to Wellesley on Sept. 16, 9am-2:30pm, at Wellesley Community Center at 219 Washington St. Most of the proceeds go to The Wellesley Food Pantry and United States Marine Corps Toys for Tots.

The Modifiers is an old school car club started in 1962 by a group of high school pals who loved to tinker with cars and figure out how to make them go faster. It lay dormant for a while but has roared back since 2010 and meets monthly now at the Community Center.

Admission to the show is $2, and refreshments will be available for purchase. Seniors free, Veterans free, Children under 12 free.

Wellesley Cub Scout Pack 185, which serves the Bates Elementary school district as well as Upham and other schools, is having its first pack meeting on Monday, Sept 25th from 6:30-7:30pm in the Bates cafeteria and gymnasium. The outfit will be showing videos from last year, introducing scouting to the new recruits, and enjoying some animal entertainment by “Curious Creatures.”

Interested boys in grades K-5 should join the informational first Pack Meeting and also RSVP to [email protected].

Looking for a fun way to spend time with friends, try new things, develop your leadership skills, and go to fun places?

Girl Scout Troop 73505 is Wellesley’s troop for 6th, 7th and 8th grade girls who live or go to school in Wellesley. The troop meets once Sunday evening per month to socialize over dinner and to plan for outings and activities. Our scouts run town-wide events for younger scouts, including badge workshops, an ice skating party, a parent-daughter square dance, and more. We join forces with Wellesley’s high school troop for a fall community service weekend trip at Overlook Farm, and model the latest styles at the spring fashion show. Other plans for 2017-18 include whitewater rafting, a broadway musical, an overnight ski/tube trip, an escape room challenge and possibly a weekend trip to New York City.

All of our scouts are busy with school, sports, etc., so not all the girls do everything. We aim to have a balance of activities throughout the year so that there are ways for all girls to participate in one way or another. No scout experience is needed.

Try it out for free during the month of September, with no obligation to join. The kick-off meeting is September 10, 5:30-8pm at the Wellesley Community Center. RSVP to [email protected]

Or join now by registering with Girl Scouts of Eastern Mass ($40 for annual national membership) and indicating Troop 73505. Annual troop dues of $30 can be paid by check at the first meeting.

I’m a long-time member of the Wellesley Gardeners’ Guild, a group of about 40 dig-in-the-dirt types that range in knowledge from master gardeners to rank beginners. We attend monthly meetings where we plan our next gardening moves, sip coffee, and become educated by speakers on topics with titles such as “Hip Hip Hydrangeas” and “Pots with Pizzazz.” Our fundraising efforts go in a few directions, mostly toward the year-round planting and maintenance of the 12 Wellesley Square and two Wellesley Hills post office boxes.

It all sounds so idyllic, and it usually is, but lately our group has found itself embroiled in a mystery. There’s intrigue. There are shadowy figures. There are even corpses.

Here’s the way the division of labor is parceled out in this working club: every week, a different club member is in charge of the Hills and Square post office boxes. The member waters, deadheads, and keeps the flower boxes looking aesthetically pleasing through judicious fluffing of the plants or by artfully coaxing a vine to go this way or that, all in the name of maximum visual impact. The club takes it all very seriously, because nothing screams out broken promises and shattered dreams more than unkempt flower boxes.

Here’s what’s been happening: lately, members have been showing up to do their gardening duties, only to find the boxes already sodden and plants dying (the corpses). After a flurry of communication among members, we realized that we’ve got a Mystery Waterer on our hands. Or maybe even two.

I’ve been scheduled for duty for the past week, and when I showed up only to find that someone had gotten there before me, soaking the drought-resistant plants within an inch of their lives, it put my anxiety level through the roof, let me tell you. Some of plants had actually given up, drowned — blub, blub, blub — by too much of a good thing.

I did what any panicked garden club member would do. I emailed that most august of garden club figures, the Chair of Civic Improvements of the Post Offices. I struck a calm, factual, don’t-blame-me note. “The Wellesley Square boxes have been consistently sodden. Not sure why. Will let you know how they look tonight,” and was told, “Don’t water. I was there this afternoon. All good and wet. Don’t go tomorrow either. I have to head down there and check on a few things anyway.”

Whaaat? My heart sank. It’s my week to water. Aren’t I supposed to be checking on a few things? Am I not responsible enough? Am I under a cloud of suspicion? Ok, just breathe through this. Nobody’s accused you of anything yet. You’re completely innocent of plant murder or neglect. Pull yourself together and keep going with your regular routine, I told myself.

When I went back to the scene of the crimes, ready to water, deadhead, and fluff, the boxes were once again sodden. I knew I was being pesky, but I emailed to report on this and ask the Chair if she had watered for me. “Nope,” came the reply, “I’m away. Maybe L___ (one of the committee members) did it. Or maybe we have a Mystery Waterer. They screwed us last year.”

This was news to me. A Mystery Waterer would explain everything, except for the weirdness of why there is a Mystery Waterer at all. Gleefully, because I’d emerged from my self-imposed cloud of suspicion, I declared, “We must have a Mystery Waterer. L___ and I went swimming at Farm Pond two days ago and she knows I’m covering it.”

“Argh,” wrote the Chair. “I will send an email to the club today pleading with any members to stop watering. Take the key out of the box if you can. That should stump them.” (We have a poorly hidden key to access our water source.)

“WTF?” (Now that I’d been let into the inner sanctum of garden club secrets, I felt that I could swear.) “Such weirdness. Ok, will try.” Then, because I’m a writer and because I just can’t leave well enough alone, I added, “I will put a note in one of the boxes asking our Mystery Waterer to please stop.”

“Good idea,” wrote the Chair, knowing there was no sense in trying to stop me. “Make it sweet as honey!” (Emoji with bee vomiting honey into a honey pot.)

Then, the plot thickened. An email from another club member came saying, “Hi, Post Office Chair. I read your note with interest and wanted to let you know that yesterday when I passed the Hills P.O., I saw a woman and man wearing straw hats, intently working on the window boxes. It seemed odd to me, as they both seemed to know what they were doing, i.e. they had pruning shears, etc. I didn’t look closely to see if I recognized the woman because I was in a hurry. So it might solve the mystery if you ask Deborah if she was there yesterday with a male helper. If not, someone is doing double duty!”

I can tell you this much. Neither my husband nor I wears a straw hat. Furthermore, I was not taking care of the boxes with a man who was my husband or a man who was not my husband, for that matter. Ergo, two people, neither of whom was me, were working on the boxes, according to an eye-witness account. Sounds like our Mystery Waterers, Scooby Doo.

Now it was time to put a stop to all this nonsense, sensibly and with the gracious manners all Wellesley Gardeners’ Guild members innately posses. I pulled out my heaviest Crane’s stationary and my smoothest black-ink pen and sat down with a nice cup of Earl Grey at my writing table in the morning room. I was ready to go full-tilt Wellesley on them.

Dear Mystery Waterer(s), I began.

Aren’t the post office boxes just beautiful? The women of the Wellesley Gardeners’ Guild take great pride in planting AND maintaining them. Each week, one of us waters and deadheads on a daily basis. For most of us, it’s a highlight of being in the club. So we certainly understand why you’ve been so keen to jump in, Mystery Waterer.

But we must ask you to please stop. Sometimes club members, not realizing you have gotten there ahead of them, are watering on top of what you have already done. Unfortunately, some of the plants are suffering and have had to be replaced due to overwatering.

Thank you for understanding that we already have plenty of eager, responsible waterers who really shouldn’t be denied their “flower box therapy.”

Best, The Members of the Wellesley Gardeners’ Guild

We’ll see if the power of the pen has the ability to make this mystery history. I hope so, because I can’t bear to see any more senseless drownings of plants, and my club just doesn’t have the resources to put a 24/7 lifeguard on duty.